Metal drummer flees Iran danger

By Bianca Hall

A 28-year-old man detained at Manus Island says he fled to Australia after being an underground metal drummer in Iran, where executions are ''as common as eating a piece a cake''.

The Manus Island camp.

He said he finally fled Iran after 60 heavy-metal fans were arrested at an unauthorised concert, and music teachers were arrested and jailed.

Restrictions on music and dancing are commonplace in Iran, where hundreds of young people have been arrested at unauthorised concerts.

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''Because heavy metal is completely prohibited and illegal in Iran, and as I mentioned before because of the religion and misjudgments, it's known as 'Evil Music','' the man - who asked not to be identified - wrote in a lengthy email from Manus Island.

''Government officials and the religious [authorities] who are in charge will arrest you and take you to Intelligence Department and anything can happen to you then.''

The man wrote that he abandoned his beloved drums after authorities began to increasingly target music fans.

''In an underground concert more than 60 fans were arrested, charged and locked up. Players were taken to Intelligence. Two teachers of mine were arrested also.''

He panicked. He sold his drums, moved to a new location and changed his phone number, cut ties with everyone but family and sank into depression. ''I deleted every history of my music from my life because of my fear of being arrested by the government who were intent on stopping this music. During this time six musicians that I knew were arrested in their training place. After that no one contacted each other, even on Facebook.''

There has been escalating unrest on Manus Island, with three men briefly escaping the processing facility at the weekend and running into the sea in an apparent joint suicide attempt.

On Saturday, 40 more people - all single men, mostly Iranians, Iraqis and Afghans - arrived at Manus, bringing the number of people in the centre to 221.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) confirmed that three men who had recently arrived on Manus tried to escape from the facility late on Saturday night, before they were returned there.

The asylum seeker on Manus wrote that G4S guards rescued the men from the sea. But a DIAC spokeswoman said the department ''categorically denies'' separate reports from the island that a man tried to hang himself on Saturday.

A spokeswoman said one man had been taken to the island's medical facility with minor injuries after banging his head against a fence on Saturday afternoon. DIAC would not comment on the circumstances of the man's injuries.